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When the Montana Air National Guard on Gore Hill converted from fighter jets to C-130s over the last year, some shops were eliminated while others were created.

The aerial port shop has expanded from five to 49 airmen. Four are full time at the shop and the rest are traditional Guardsmen, Maj. Matt Reagan and Senior Master Sgt. Pat Halko said.

Reagan and Halko briefed members of the Military Affairs Committee at their monthly lunch Friday. The MAC is a component of the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

The shop existed previously because they helped load transient military aircraft, but now the aerial port shop is a critical part of the 120th Airlift Wing’s mission.

“If something goes into the back of the aircraft, we are involved,” Reagan said.

They prep parachutes for Army units that may do jump training with MANG’s C-130s, they load pallets and work with the operations department to ensure the C-130s are loaded properly for whatever airdrop mission the unit is conducting.

Halko was hired into his current role in the aerial port shop about a year ago and has been recruiting and coordinating training for airmen new to the aerial port specialty.

The aerial port airmen also keep track of passengers and cargo that are being loaded onto MANG’s C-130s to make sure the aircraft stays within its weight limits and retrieve dropped pallets after missions, Halko said.

To demonstrate some of the state support capability of the C-130, Reagan and Halko showed a video of airmen dropping hay after a winter storm in 2007 had prevented farmers and ranchers from reaching their animals. It’s the kind of mission MANG’s C-130s could potentially perform in Montana.

For now, a few airmen in the aerial port shop have met the training requirements to be able to load C-130s for missions and more are being trained now, Halko said.

Some who crosstrained came to the shop at what is known as Level 3 to them, but they need to be Level 7 to be able to load cargo for missions. Airmen go to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia for training.

MANG is continuing its mission conversion and construction is a part of it.

A groundbreaking for the new hangar is planned for Friday and work is expected to start Monday, according to James Talcott Construction, which was awarded the $22 million contract to build a new hangar and renovate the existing hangar at MANG.

According to Talcott Construction, once work begins, they have a year to complete the new hangar. Then they’ll move on to the major renovation of the existing hangar, which is also expected to take a year.

Online

To watch the video of C-130s dropping hay after a winter storm in 2007, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1laUlGAkolM